Catawba (redirected from Catawbas)

Catawba, indigenous people of North America

Catawba (kətô`bə), Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They have for centuries occupied a region in South Carolina around the Catawba River; they are noted for their ancient traditional pottery, which they still produce. Once a large and powerful group, they waged incessant but unsuccessful war against the Cherokee and tribes of the Ohio River valley. Fighting and European-introduced smallpox reduced them to a small group in the 18th cent. In 1962 the Catawbas' relationship with the federal government was terminated; in 1993, however, tribal status was restored and their reservation enlarged. Tribal headquarters are at Rock Hill, S.C. In 1990 there were close to 1,000 Catawba in the United States. The last speaker of Catawba died in 1996.

Bibliography

See D. S. Brown, The Catawba Indians (1966); C. M. Hudson, The Catawba Nation (1970).

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Catawba, river, N.C. and S.C.

Catawba, river, N.C. and S.C.: see Wateree.

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Catawba

North American Indian people of South Carolina, U.S. The meaning of the name Catawba, which seems to have been applied after European contact to several small bands of peoples in the region of the Catawba River, is unknown. The peoples first encountered by Hernando de Soto subsisted principally by farming and by harvesting corn, beans, squash, and gourds. Fish and birds were also staples of their diet. They traded bowls, baskets, and mats to other native groups and, later, to colonists. Each village was governed by a council presided over by a chief. After contact with European settlers, disease and other factors diminished their numbers rapidly. Catawba descendants numbered more than 2,500 in the early 21st century.

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Catawba

grape grown in the eastern U.S., producing a medium-dry white wine. [Am. Hist.: Misc.]

See : Wine